17 June 2015

The challenging road ahead for our smart cities

Ambitious benchmarks are being set for the smart cities the government envisions.

The bar is being set high for the 100 smart cities that the government plans to promote in the country.

If the concept note (which has been described as a work in progress) is to be believed, this is how our smart cities are going to be:

No commuter would have to spend the best part of his time on travel - not more than 30 minutes in small and medium sized cities and 45 minutes in metropolitan areas, for instance. Unobstructed footpaths should be a norm on either side of the broader roads. Not to speak of cycle tracks.

And ninety-five percent of residents would not have to walk more than 400 metres to find parks, primary schools and recreational areas and also for shopping. It should be possible to access work places and public and institutional services using public transport or bicycle or by walking.

The benchmarks cover different sectors including health and education. For example, telemedicine facilities should be available to 100 per cent of residents and the emergency response time should be no more than 30 minutes. The city should have Wi-Fi coverage.

Universities, medical colleges, engineering colleges and technical education centres should be so distributed as to cover a population of 10 lakhs each. And so on.